Dragon returns to space station

WASHINGTON – The Dragon cargo ship will spend the next 18 days attached to the International Space Station after its second successful docking on Wednesday (Oct. 10) over the Pacific Ocean.

Space Station commander Sunita Williams lined up the two spacecraft early Wednesday morning in darkness over the Pacific Ocean. Mission specialist Akihiko Hoshide then reached out with the station’s 58-foot-long robotic arm to capture the cargo ship launched by Space Exploration Technologies Inc. from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla, on Sunday.

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The resupply mission, designated CRS-1, marks the first time a commercial company has delivered significant amounts of cargo to the space station. SpaceX (Hawthorne, Calif.) became the first private contractor to send a spacecraft to the space station in May.

Unlike the first “berthing” in May, when SpaceX encountered problems with laser radar sensors as it closed in on the orbiting laboratory, Wednesday’s berthing went off without a hitch.

Frank, this one went like clock work. Dragon approached to 30 meters from the station, NASA said "Go," they moved to 10 meters and the station crew reached out and grabbed it -- ahead of schedule. The danger now is complacency.